Now that I’ve discovered I’m expecting a little girl, I have suddenly become a devotee of the humble but beautiful pastel palette.

I’ve put together a few pastel looks from a few of my favourite children’s / interior websites, and some of my own products as they work so perfectly in tandem.

I’ve also been working with Cotton Ball Lights which have so many different and beautiful colour options in their online store.

For the perfect pastel base, use simple white walls, or a pale grey like we have.

Perfect Pastels

In this look, I’ve used a string of cotton ball lights in pastels from cottonballlights.com/uk (used throughout) to tie in lots of pastel hues, so that the look doesn’t get too ‘pink’ ! Pink and grey makes a perfect combination, and I’ve used this beautiful dolls bed from This Modern Life as a sweet accessory.

The monochrome dolls bedding is from Willie and Millie which has a little cover and pillow, the perfect size for the little cot.

The Icecream garland is my pastel Icecream garland available to order in my Etsy shop each Friday.

Icecream Garland

Filling a paper bag with toys lends a more rustic contemporary look to a children’s room, and I’ve filled it with some of our little toys.

The pink muslin swaddle is by Fine Little Day at This Modern Life again. ﻿

Dolls bed and Cotton Ball Lights

I never planned to get so ‘girlie’ but adding greys and whites keeps this look well away from sickly territory. Personally I’m not a fan of beiges and champagne colours, but wanting a soft look to baby’s area, the greys and pastels are ideal.

Our cotton ball lights are perfect for creating a warm cosy space by night, and a soft light for night time feeds, and by day they are another pretty accessory.

String Shelves, white Ash

I’ve also created a little shelf area using white ash String Shelves from Utility Design which are ideal for displaying our trinkets. I try and keep a balance of whites, greys and pastel touches so it doesn’t become overbearing.

I’ve also started to collect sweet baby accessories and clothes from some of my favourite shops. These pink moccasins are made by Wolfie and Willow and they are the softest chrome free leather.

These little socks are from Archies Boutique and are by Petit Pattes who make the most beautiful baby gift or treat.

I also found this sweet cloud top and matching leggings at The Little White Company which goes so well with our other ‘cloud’ items which are dotted about.

I found this little pink teething ring at Archies Boutique too, perfect as a gift or to stash away in my case!

Finally, I’ve made a new mobile style with sparkling and felt icecreams which will launch in my Etsy shop on May 6th.

It’s sometimes very hard to find baby room accessories and essentials that arn’t too twee, and that echo the ethos and complement my Velveteen Babies collection. Luckily, Mama Designs has stepped in to save modern nurseries everywhere!

We love how well each product goes with our Velveteen Babies garland designs for a bright or cloud themed nursery.

Mama Designs Babasac

The Babasac sleeping bags are produced in fun, graphic prints and inner layers you can zip out, making it a multi tog sleeping bag for all weather. We love the unisex clouds and apple designs, and there are stars, pink heart designs online too.

Babasac sleeping bag

Mamadesigns also produces a beautiful range of soft cotton cellular blankets in greys and brights for your little ones. We have a lovely bright yellow, though there’s some lovely contrast trim grey styles too.

Bright and Beautiful

They are perfect for using as a nap time cover up, or to add a pop of colour to your nursery.

Cellular Blanket

Keira designs all her products with love in the UK, and every single product is tested to the highest safety standards. Take a look at the whole range here.

I have such a lovely time creating custom mobiles so I thought I’d share some photos of them with you.

This is my classic cloud and droplet mobile, but I’ve customised the little rainbow in order to match my customer’s nursery bedding. It’s very pretty and feminine.

cloud and raindrop mobile

Classic droplets with bright rainbow

The next mobile is a contemporary look, and has a clean modern approach. It’s based on my mouse garland (which is usually black and white) we’ve softened it by using greys and whites, and I’ve used white cord instead of ribbon to make it as contemporary as possible.

The mouse mobile

I created a very special custom order in beiges, blush pinks and golds.

I also made the ombrè garland to go with it, and match in the colours. I adore how the colours have worked so well together.

Mountain Bear Mobile

One of our best sellers which can be customised with a choice of ribbon and either clouds or fir trees to suit.

Mountain Bear Mobile

Sleepy Cloud with mint stars and gold moon.

Our new elephant mobile with clouds and stars in greys, white and silver touches.

Rainbow Raindrop Mobile

* All designs belong to Velveteen Babies and are not to be replicated or copied*

It’s easy to walk into a high street nursery shop or the nursery section of a department store and purchase a matchy matchy nursery set in generic colours and styles for the new baby, they even do matching toys and accessories, right?

Scratch that.

In the next few photos I’ve put together a few simple and contemporary looks for baby using a simplistic set of quality String shelves in white ash. I purchased them from Utility Design for £109 (for the set ) they are easy to install, and are beautiful quality:

I’ve used white as a backdrop, in both our nursery corner and in my boys room, but it’s anything but boring.

Look 1. Muted Pastels

Modern Pastel nursery style

Look one shows my ombré raindrop garland in lemon/gold and through to pink, which makes it quite versatile and can be used to blend pastels in a room. I can make these to suit any colour scheme, but particularly like this soft blend.

Modern pastels are sophisticated but sweet, and I’ve added a Supergirl print from Miniwilla, soft grey swan from Ilka Design and a fun Kokeshi doll from the amazing Sketch Inc.

These cute grey robot cards are applied to the wall with washi tape, and come from Wonder and Rah on Etsy. I’ve raided my children’s Sonny Angel collection (find a large selection at retrokids.com) and that little cloud is by Pixi Stuff, again, find a selection through stockists retrokids.com.

Look 2.

Monochrome Milkbottles

Not only does monochrome look stylish, it is also very stimulating for baby.

This look features my simple milk bottle garland in white and our lovely milk bottle rattle by The Milk Collective from The Modern Nursery. A large muslin swaddle blanket from Modern Burlap (there’s many stockists of this brand in the UK such as Yellow Lolly and This Modern Life) .

Wooden items such as the personalised pennant from This Paper Book, and handmade blocks from Myla and Oscar tie in a Scandinavian, natural inspired feel, and the Russian dolls are by Sketch Inc at The Pippa and Ike Show.

Look 3.

Contemporary Brights

The brightest and most fun of my schemes, this is a very easy look to achieve. Mix bright accessories in contrasting colours to build a rainbow look, though it’s crucial you don’t overload it, and keep furniture and walls very pale and simple so the colours don’t all fight against each other!

Our rainbow and cloud garland is the perfect gender neutral garland to go with a bright theme, though I make several different styles that would suit as well.

Babasac

I’ve discovered the amazing Mama Designs online for the most stylish baby sleeping bags, and bright cellular blankets, as well as being gorgeous quality. There is such attention to detail and the colours and styles are way more contemporary than most of the things you’ll find on the local high street, as well as being gender neutral.

Mama Designs cellular blanket

Check out the brilliant Molly Meg for bright pops of colour such as this Grimms Rainbow, and fox mask.

Our sparkly blue marquee light has been exquisitely made by hand and is from Gingerrocksdesigns on Etsy. Each one is lovingly made by a mum of four, and they come in a brilliant range of styles and colours. It’s the perfect finishing touch and the ideal size for adorning a shelf.

Look 4.

Cloudy Day

Biggest trend in nursery design: Clouds! Seen just about everywhere but no signs of abating, I’ve used clouds but worked them into a clean, modern nursery look.